Burning in the Skies
by Kitte-Wolf
Summary: He can't believe it. It's almost surreal... T for suicide, Apologize from Wally's POV


**Okay, I love flames! They're so pretty. Okay, now that that's out of the way, I don't own Young Justice or Burning in the Skies. Those belong to DC and Linkin Park, respectively.**

We're all hanging together. You know, like the BFF's we are. I'm doubled over with my arm around Artemis, laughing my ass off as Conner just stares. M'gann is smiling a little bit too, while Kaldur just raises an eyebrow at us. I'm just really happy. The only thing that would make this better would be if my best friend Dick were here.

_**Recognized: Robin B01**_

Speak of the devil.

_I used the deadwood to make the fire rise_

"Hey, Rob's here now!" I'm even happier. Glad, even. Because even if he can't see it, I can, and Zatanna isn't in love with him. Maybe he'll start spending less time with her and start rebuilding the bridges he's been accidentally burning with her.

When he walks into the room, he's broken. It's so damn obvious. Artemis can kind-of see it, I can tell by the look on her face, and M'gann has this sort of upset look now, it's obvious she can see the heartbreak around him.

_The blood of innocence burning in the skies_

"Hey man!" I greet Robin, putting up a little façade, hoping that he hasn't found out Zatanna's betrayal yet. But he has this look, and I can't hope that for long- he isn't innocent to her fake love anymore. He's too twitchy.

_**Recognized: Zatanna B08**_

God, I can see how glaringly obvious his stiffening is. The smile on his face gets darker as the magician walks in the room, her face happier than the Tooth Fairy in a dentist's office.

_I filled my cup with the rising of the sea_

I just watch, and voila. The smile drops off of Robin's face and it's Zatanna's turn to stiffen a little.

"When were you going to tell me you were seeing someone else?"

This takes Zatanna away. He totally blindsided her.

_And poured it out in an ocean of debris_

Yay for him.

"Robin, I don't know what you saw, but it's not what you think!" Oh please don't let him fall for this trick again. She's still so obviously caught in her tangled web of lies, whilst Robin's escaping. Why can't she retain some of her honor and just admit it? He has her caught. Her eyes go wide and desperate as she continues. "It wasn't what it looked like. Robin, I need you! You're truly the only one for me, I promise, I swear! I'll even give you my word if you need!" Liar, liar, I should set your pants on fire…

_I'm swimming in the smoke_

She's attempting to hug him now. Is she not blind? Disbelief, betrayal, and hurt are written across his face. "Robin, I'm sorry if you think I'm cheating on you, but I'm not!"

"No."

He has his right arm up, keeping her away from him. She steps back, mouth open, as he turns to face her.

"What?"

"It's too late. I know exactly what I saw." Damn right you do. Way to go Rob!

_Of bridges I have burned_

"Look, what do you think you saw? Because I can promise you, that it's not what it looked like!" Now she's trying to play him like a fiddle. Those are some really obvious lies, and Rob is a Bat.

Of course, since he's a Bat, why didn't he see through those lies sooner? Maybe he was blinded by love…

_So don't apologize_

"You've been cheating on me." Oh no, oh no. Everything slows down. Rob's getting numb, he can't let himself get numb… He can't go numb! That's what happened to Troy before he killed himself! God, I can't lose another friend to suicide because of a cheater! That can't happen! The universe can't be that cruel!

Life speeds back up again. "I'm sorry, but-" Zatanna is cut off by Rob.

"No! No, you're not. Zatanna, it's too late for you to apologize." He sounds angry for a second, then broken and betrayed. God this is even worse. Numbness, anger, and broken! That's a recipe for suicide!

_I'm losing what I don't deserve_

"What? Robin, I… Please, Robin, let me explain!" She's begging now. Lotsa begging going on there.

"No. I don't want to hear any of your excuses, your lies, or your empty promises." He's Batglaring at her. A broken-hearted Batglare, almost as intense as the DaddyBatglare.

"I'm sorry! If you'd just let me explain-!" Explain what? Oh God, I should've told Robin oh dear God if he kills himself it will be all my fault…

_What I don't deserve_

"No, I know I saw you sucking face with that one blonde. Zatanna, it's too late." For her, yes. For Robin, not quite. Now all I have to do is make sure he doesn't do anything stupid.

"Robin! Just listen to me! Just listen to what you're implying!"

"I know what I'm stating. There's no implying about it-" This time the little whore interrupts Robin. How dare she?!

"Just let me explain!" Great. She's got her bitching glare on now.

"I am not listening to another lie you say. Zatanna, it's over. You don't get to use me any. More." He's growling, and stalks off. We all hear his door slam down the hall.

_We held our breath when the clouds began to form_

"Zatanna, what? What's going on?" I know my girlfriend well enough that she's offering Zatanna another chance to come clean. I itch to race down the hall, vibrate through Rob's door regardless of any bloody noses, and just wrap him in a hug, but I also need to stay here and hammer guilt into the magician's thick skull.

"He thinks he saw me making out with another guy," she replies very suavely. Too suave. She's such a bitch, and I step forward, fires of rage building up in me.

"Stop lying. I've been watching you for a while, you know that right? Someone has to take care of Robin, and you're doing an awful fine job. Cheating on him. Hmph. I don't know why I ever like you." I turn away from her, arms crossing over my chest.

_But you were lost in the beating of the storm_

"Why?" I hear M'gann ask. "Why would you cheat on him?" She's upset. It's very obvious.

"I'm not," the liar growls the lie back.

"I believe that the evidence says otherwise. But Wally and Robin have seen you cheating on him. And I have no doubts that if M'gann were to probe you mind, she would find it true." Kaldur. Ever the voice of calm reason.

"You can't! That's a betrayal of privacy!" I hate her, I hate her a lot.

_And in the end we were made to be apart_

"That's right. We don't even have any proof of Robin's statements, other than Wally and Robin's words." I hate Raquel now. A lot. The fire inside me gets stronger, and I whip around, glaring my best imitation Batglare. Robin had kind of been teaching me.

"You little bitch. You don't know when to stop, do you? This is all just a game to you. But I'll tell you one thing." I get right up in her face. I am extremely pissed. "One of my friends in Central killed himself because he caught his girlfriend of a year and a half cheating on him with his best friend. You have no idea what cheating on someone can do to them!" I stalk over to the couch, flopping on it. Rest in peace, Troy.

"You're lying!" Zatanna spits at me. "No one would kill themselves because of cheating."

_In separate chambers of the human heart_

"Keep telling yourself that, player," I shoot over my shoulder at her, then proceed to block out the world until Zatanna rushes back into the room. When did she leave?

"He went in the airvents!" She sounds slightly choked.

"What?" I'm next to her in milliseconds. "Fuck! He can get anywhere in the mountain through there! God, who knows what the Hell he might do!"

"I'll check the training room," Artemis blurts before sprinting off.

_I'm swimming in the smoke_

"I'll check the bathrooms!" I almost scream before speeding off and very thoroughly checking every bathroom in the mountain. It feels like hours before sprinting back into the living room. Conner straightens up.

"Artemis found him they're on top of the mountain," he says, and I'm off as fast as I can push myself. I sprint out on top of the mountain top and everything is frozen.

_Of bridges I have burned_

Robin is half-unconscious, blue eyes half lidded, covered in his blood. Artemis' hair is a mess, she's a mess, tears streaming down her face and her mouth open in a scream- a scream for me. There's so much blood, she's covered by it, Robin's covered in it.

In an explosion of sound and emotion, everything moves again, and Robin is in my arms and I'm running towards the hospital as fast as I can possibly push myself. I'm running on empty, but nothing can hold me back.

_So don't apologize_

I sprint into the emergency room, and the hospital worker's eyes widen when they see the blood-covered kid in my arms. An orderly takes me, and everything after that all blurs together.

I tell them his name.

They wheel him away on a gurney.

_I'm losing what I don't deserve_

Soon enough, I'm sitting in the lobby, waiting for my friends. My head is down, I don't see Artemis until she speaks.

"Is he okay?"

"He's in ICU," I say dully. "He's getting a blood transfusion."

_It's in the blackened bones_

I'm barely aware of everyone else coming. I'm pretty much falling into catatonia, just… everything's so slow, and it's unbearable…

There's so much pain!

"Mr. West?" I hear my name, but that's it until Artemis begins to lead me by the wrist.

_Of bridges I have burned_

I sigh. I'm barely aware of Artemis washing my hands under scalding hot water, and then she leads me away again.

It's all my fault.

We go upstairs. Artemis shoves me into a room, and I can see Robin against the sheets.

"Oh my God."

_So don't apologize_

"Why?" I begin to sob. "Dick! You, I we all love you! Bruce loves you, Roy loves you, Hell even Clark and Diana love you! Augh!" My voice escalates to a scream. "Curse that fucking bitch! Curse her- she'll be forever alone! God! Why can't she just go die in a hole! I'll kill her!" I don't even notice the orderlies sedating me until the needle is shoved into my arm.

_I'm losing what I don't deserve_

They lead me out, I can barely tell, I barely notice all the orderlies rushing by and then we're back at the Cave and dear God, everything rushes back, Robin's dead, he's gone, he's not coming back. I curl up into Conner, and just let all my tears flow. I even feel some wetness on my back. He's crying, too.

_What I don't deserve_

_**Recognized: Batman 02**_

We all wake up in unison to the computer. Batman's standing there. Raquel and M'gann simultaneously burst into tears, and I begin to sniff. I can hear someone else begin to sniff too, and I hear Artemis speak.

"Batman. Sir. If you're going to kill anyone, kill Zatanna. She's the one who cheated on him, that fucking bitch." She breaks down, sobbing into my shirt.

_I'm swimming in the smoke_

Barry shows up sometime, and takes me home. I get tucked into bed, and I swear they placed me on suicide watch because first it's Iris watching me, then Mom, then Barry, then Dad. I just lay in bed… Until the day of the funeral.

_Of bridges I have burned_

Barry gets me out of bed. Iris helps me get dressed. I'm painfully skinny- I've barely been eating anything. It's my fault. My fault one of my bros is dead.

_So don't apologize_

The funeral is in Gotham, and my family drives me. Mom and Dad didn't know him, other than on news, but Barry and Iris were just as broken about this as me.

"He-he was my bro. Him a-and R-roy and I, w-we were th-the t-terrible t-trio. We were all b-bros, y'know? A-and now whu-one of u-us is d-d-dead, a-and a-all b-because o-of Zatanna a-and h-he's d-dead b-because sh-she cheated o-on h-him!" At this point I break into tears.

_I'm losing what I don't deserve_

I'm held by my family. I block everything out until Zatanna speaks.

"I didn't mean for him to end up killing himself. I thought I loved him. But I love Mark. I was only trying to keep him happy."

Artemis launches herself at the bitch with a primordial scream, a knife pulled from her jacket, and I can't help but smile a bit as the knife is dug into Zatanna's chest. The blonde dude pulls her off and gets her knife, and she breaks his jaw.

_The blame is mine alone_

I wish she broke his neck.

My family takes me home, and I spend another night in bed until I drag myself up. Even if it was my fault, Dick wouldn't want me to be all mopey. I drag myself downstairs, to see the news. I'm pretty damn surprised.

Artemis killed Zatanna. Put an arrow through her heart.

_For bridges I have burned_

I grin. Artemis is ending up in Juvie, but I can't bring myself to care. The bitch is dead, and maybe, just maybe…

_So don't apologize_

I get Barry to take me to see her.

"She deserved it, for what she did to him."

Makes me think…

_I'm losing what I don't deserve_

"What about blonde dude?"

"He's still alive. Where are you going with this?"

I leave then, eyes hooded. I plan to take him out tonight…

_What I don't deserve_

But the news. He's dead, and Raquel Ervin is headed to Juvie as well. She snapped his neck.

_What I don't deserve_

I grin. I pump my fist into the air, and I go on to live my life.

_What I don't deserve_

I miss him, though. It makes me think… What if I had confessed before Zatanna had shown up? Maybe he would've loved me back, maybe we would be together right now, happy…

No, that's just a fantasy. It'll never happen. It just… It can't now.

Artemis has always known I love, loved Dick. She even almost convinced me to confess to him, before New Years. But, well, I kind of love her a bit too, so I talk to her, and, well, I kiss her during New Years. It was supposed to be a one-time kind of deal, but then I see Zatanna kiss him, and he kisses her back, and he falls in love with her, so Artemis and I just end up together because I need someone.

So Artemis became that someone…

But I still love him, for now and forever.

_And here's the deadwood to make the fire rise…_

_The blood of innocence burning in the skies…_


End file.
